BJP, Shiv Sena to test strength against each other in legislative council elections

These elections are the first of the three phases wherein total 21 new members are slated to be elected to the upper house of Maharashtra legislature till July.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray (File | PTI)
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray (File | PTI)

MUMBAI: After a meeting of MLAs with party president Uddhav Thackeray the Shiv Sena on Thursday declared that it would contest two of the six legislative council seats that would go for vote next month. While the terms of alliance haven’t been finalized between Congress and NCP, the BJP and the Shiv Sena appear to be in a mood to test strength against each other yet again.

Local Self Government constituencies of Konkan (Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurga), Nashik, Osmanabad-Latur-Beed, Parbhani-Hingoli, Amarawati and Chandrapur are scheduled to go for vote on May 21. The last date of filing nomination is May 3 and the results would be declared on May 24. Three of these six constituencies were held by the NCP last time. While Congress had one, the rest two were with the BJP. While the BJP sees this as an opportunity to increase its strength in the upper house of the state legislature, the Shiv Sena wants to make their presence felt. The NCP is well aware that it won’t be able to keep all the three constituencies and may offer one to the Congress.

While BJP is confident of getting Mitesh Bhangadia (Vardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli) and Pravin Pote (Amarawati) re-elected to the legislative council, it is also eyeing Osmanabad-Beed-Latur and Nashik seats. The BJP had achieved good success in local bodies of all the four cities. That makes the party leadership feel that both the seats are easily winnable. However, Shiv Sena announced Narendra Darade as its candidate in Nashik on Thursday. It may also contest the Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurga seat though it has not announced the name of the candidate today.

Seating Congress MLC Dilip Deshmukh from Osmanabad-Beed-Latur had already declared that he won’t be contesting the election now. That will make the party search for right candidate, while increasing the confidence of the BJP. The BJP may leave the Nashik seat for Shiv Sena if the party agrees to help them in two seats from the Marathwada region. However, if a senior disgruntled Shiv Sena leader from Nashik decides to join BJP, the picture would be different.

These elections are the first of the three phases wherein total 21 new members are slated to be elected to the upper house of Maharashtra legislature till July. 11 of these 21 are legislative assembly constituencies, while four are from graduates and teachers’ constituencies.

The BJP is aiming to win 9-10 out of these 21 and increase its strength significantly. This change would also mean that the NCP and Congress would lose their positions of the larges and the second largest parties in the house respectively. The BJP would need the Shiv Sena to control the house in such a situation and hence may try to pacify them by giving a couple of seats.

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